Garcia, Cardinals Beat Reds, Cubs Win Ninth Straight

BY ESPN

Jaime Garcia is finally feeling like himself on the mound.

"I'm a guy who goes after guys and I got away from where I needed to be and I had some mechanical issues that I had to get rid of," Garcia said. "The last couple of games my defense has been great and hopefully we can do that the rest of the way."

Matt Carpenter and Jhonny Peralta homered to back up a second straight dominant start by Garcia as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 on Wednesday night.

Garcia (9-8) needed just 85 pitches to get through 8-plus innings and 19 of his 24 outs were ground balls or strikeouts. The lefty has given up two runs in his last 16 innings.

"When I'm pitching my goal is to get quick outs and to get them to hit the ball on the ground and I was able to do that today," Garcia said.

Shortstop Greg Garcia had nine putouts. Greg Garcia and Peralta, who played third, made back-to-back stellar defensive plays to get Jaime Garcia out of the eighth.

"Those ground balls, he had a lot early in the count," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny. "Guys thought they saw it and it would just dance out of the zone at the last second."

Carpenter's homer in the first inning was his second leadoff home run of the season and 11th of his career. It was also Carpenter's second career homer against Reds starter Anthony DeScalfani.

Cubs 3, Angels 1

The Chicago Cubs are dominating on the mound, making sparkling plays in the field and coming through with big hits at the plate.

There is not much to criticize when a team is rolling along like this.

Jason Hammel won his career-best fifth straight start, pitching four-hit ball over six scoreless innings, and Chicago beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-1 on Wednesday night for their season-high ninth straight win.

The major league-leading Cubs matched their longest streak since Aug. 6-15 of last year and moved a season-best 30 games over .500 (71-41). They come into a four-game set against St. Louis at Wrigley Field with three straight series sweeps after consecutive victories over the Angels.

Hammel (12-5) struck out six, walked two and helped himself at the plate when he singled and scored in the fifth against Ricky Nolasco to make it 2-0.

Addison Russell made it 3-1 with a solo homer off JC Ramirez in the eighth.

Dexter Fowler chipped in with two hits, including an RBI double. Anthony Rizzo drove in a run with a single, and the Cubs made several neat plays in the field on the way to their 12th win in 13 games.

Royals 3, White Sox 2

Lorenzo Cain's night was not going the way he wanted. He was hitless in his first six at-bats with three strikeouts. It all ended with his fifth career walk-off hit.

Cain's two-out single in the 14th inning scored Christian Colon from second base and the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Wednesday.

"I had been ready to go home for a while," Cain said. "I was happy to get the hit. It was definitely a rough game up to that point. I came through for the boys. It's a very good feeling."

Colon opened the inning with a single and Paulo Orlando sacrificed him to second. Cain laced a single to center to score Colon, ending the 4-hour, 34-minute game, the longest by the Royals this season.

Dillon Gee (4-5), the eighth Kansas City pitcher, struck out three in two perfect innings to pick up the victory. Matt Albers (2-5) was charged with the loss.

"What a crazy game that was," Gee said. "I was in the dugout the whole game."

But when Chien-Ming Wang came in, the Royals were out of available bullpen arms. That's when pitching coach Dave Eiland approached Gee and told him to put on his spikes and go to the bullpen. Gee was penciled in to start Saturday, but that is doubtful after this emergency appearance.

Wednesday, August 10 Scoreboard

San Francisco 1, Miami 0

Philadelphia 6, Los Angeles Dodgers 2

Washington 7, Cleveland 4

New York Yankees 9, Boston 4

San Diego 4, Pittsburgh 0

Toronto 7, Tampa BAy 0

Arizona 3, New York Mets 2 (F/12)

St. Louis 3, Cincinnati 2

Texas 5, Colorado 4

Chicago Cubs 3, Los Angeles Angels 1

Milwaukee 4, Atlanta 3

Houston at Minnesota, postponed

Kansas City 3, Chicago White Sox 2 (F/14)

Oakland 1, Baltimore 0

Seattle 3, Detroit 1

Thursday, August 11 Schedule (All Times Central)

Arizona at New York Mets, 11:10 a.m.

San Diego at Pittsburgh, 11:35 a.m.

Houston at Minnesota, 12:10 p.m.

Colorado at Texas, 1:05 p.m.

Atlanta at Milwaukee, 1:10 p.m.

Baltimore at Oakland, 2:35 p.m.

New York Yankees at Boston, 6:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.

Houston at Minnesota, 6:10 p.m.

St. Louis at Chicago Cubs, 7:05 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Kansas City, 7:15 p.m.

Friday, August 12 Schedule (All Times Central)

St. Louis at Chicago Cubs, 1:20 p.m.

Tampa Bay at New York Yankees, 6:05 p.m.

Atlanta at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Colorado at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Houston at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Arizona at Boston, 6:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.

San Diego at New York Mets, 6:10 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

Detroit at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

Kansas City at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

Seattle at Oakland, 9:05 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:10 p.m.

Baltimore at San Francisco, 9:15 p.m.

Saturday, August 13 Schedule (All Times Central)

Tampa Bay at New York Yankees, 12:05 p.m.

Houston at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

St. Louis at Chicago Cubs, 1:20 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Los Angeles Dodgers, 3:05 p.m.

Atlanta at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Colorado at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Arizona at Boston, 6:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at Milwaukee, 6:10 p.m.

Kansas City at Minnesota, 6:10 p.m.

San Diego at New York Mets, 6:10 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

Detroit at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Seattle at Oakland, 8:05 p.m.

Baltimore at San Francisco, 8:05 p.m.

Sunday, August 14 Schedule (All Times Central)

Tampa Bay at New York Yankees, 12:05 p.m.

Houston at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Cleveland, 12:10 p.m.

San Diego at New York Mets, 12:10 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Miami, 12:10 p.m.

Arizona at Boston, 12:35 p.m.

Atlanta at Washington, 12:35 p.m.

Colorado at Philadelphia, 12:35 p.m.

Cincinnati at Milwaukee, 1:10 p.m.

Kansas City at Minnesota, 1:10 p.m.

Detroit at Texas, 2:05 p.m.

Seattle at Oakland, 3:05 p.m.

Baltimore at San Francisco, 3:05 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Los Angeles Dodgers, 3:10 p.m.

St. Louis at Chicago Cubs, 7 p.m.